


Too Much With Us; Late and Soon

by EternalLibrary



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Challenge Response, Character Study, kind of idk how to exactly tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 04:04:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19939921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalLibrary/pseuds/EternalLibrary
Summary: Martin considers the end of the world.





	Too Much With Us; Late and Soon

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from Wordsworth's poem "The World Is Too Much With Us", because I'm Like That.   
> For the Magnus Archives Creations Challenge. This month's theme was Mythology and my prompt was Prophecy.   
> My brain kind of went prophecy->apocalypse which is why this is very....apocalyptic.

_The world is always ending._

It takes surprisingly little time and googling for Martin to figure out what the numbers in Gary Boylan’s statement mean. And when he does figure it out for a split second he thinks, _that’s it?_

And then he thinks, _Christ, Martin, isn’t that_ enough _?_

But, another part of him says, of course the world is always ending. It’s a useless prophecy, a futile warning. The world ends and it ends and it ends and here they still are, humanity, and here he still is, Martin, alone in a world that can’t end soon enough.

He sighs, slow and long, and shivers, tugging down the sleeves of his jumper over his hands. It doesn’t help.

_The world is always ending_.

Martin feels utterly adrift and absolutely useless. But what had he expected? Some kind of signpost? A series of omens to tell him what he should be doing? A clear-cut revelation with trumpets and seven stars?

Instead there is just this: a slow decline into a chilly isolation. An office that still doesn’t feel like it belongs to him. And a set of numbers from a nearly ten year old statement to remind him that the world is _always ending_.

Martin’s world has ended so many times he’s lost count. Has ended and ended and ended without any warning, except in hindsight. He’s not going to get any answers from a clever rhyme, or from staring long enough into a mug of tea.

He sighs again and goes to make himself a fresh cup.

As the kettle rumbles towards a boil, he thinks of the statement, thinks of the ruin of Gary Boylan’s home. Thinks of a devastated museum. He taps his fingers softly against the counter but there’s no-one in here. There’s never anyone in here. He lets his hands flutter off the counter, batting at nothing in the air.

The world is always ending, in loud explosions and in quiet hospital rooms. Martin’s legs are shaking and he presses himself back against the counter, trying to stop them. He wants to cry but when has that ever accomplished anything except for a dehydration headache.

The soft click of the kettle turning off makes him flinch and all in a rush he _hates_ himself. The world, he thinks, can’t end soon enough.

But he pours the hot water over a tea bag and stirs in his milk and goes back to Elias’s – his – office. A pad of foolscap on the desk still says _the world is always ending_ and he wants to throw something. His legs are still trembling and he sits down hard behind Elias’s – his – desk and wishes he could glean something else from the numbers, from the statements, from the whorls in the hardwood of the desk.

The tea is a little too hot to drink but he sips from it anyway, wincing even as he relishes its heat.

_Here’s a prediction_ , he thinks, _here’s how the world is going to end._

Just like this: Martin, uncomfortable and alone in an office that doesn’t really belong to him, drinking tea that is too hot so that he can feel _something_ that’s not an aching emptiness.

Just another silent apocalypse in a world that’s always ending.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't mean to include tea in this fic but then my Me-ness reached up and was like _tea_ and who am I to argue with myself.


End file.
